It is usual to reinforce the rear portion of the uppers by a reinforcement of the heel called "stiffener" or "counter", in a material more rigid than the uppers, added outside or incorporated in the layer of materials constituent of said uppers and rigidly connected by a lower turned-in edge to the material constituent of the sole, said counter enclosing laterally the calcaneum and the astragalus.
It has also been proposed in FR-A-2 208 279 to provide a shoe with high uppers by starting from a two part blank, the part forming the relatively rigid lower base comprising a sole, a rear counter and a heel and at least a throughgoing hole, and by over-molding on the two assembled parts of the blank a layer of plastic material providing the connection. The layer of more flexible plastic material coating the uppers and the base is of reduced thickness and such a shoe cannot be used as a sports-shoe for practicing sports such as foot-race, tennis, jogging, etc., for the practice of which the supple sole must have a substantial thickness for absorbing the impacts.